Contributors

Sunday, January 28, 2007

I adored this book by Charles Baxter which explores the many aspects of love in a very unusual form. The narrator, Charlie Baxter, comes upon his neighbor, Bradley, one insomniac night. Bradley advises Charlie that he should be writing a book about love and offers to send people his way to tell their stories. Charlie meets Bradley and his ex-wives; Chloe, one of Bradley's employees and her boyfriend Oscar; and Bradley's academic neighbors, the Ginsbergs, among others. Along the way the characters tell their stories of love in its many forms, comment upon other characters' versions of events, and even advise Charlie. I was especially affected by the stories of Chloe and Oscar's passionate love and the sad parental love story of the Ginsbergs and their son.